Conscious Choice: The Year Green Went Mainstream

December 2006 | From the Editor

The Year Green Went Mainstream

Can it be that another year has passed?

This year will certainly go down, in at least our mid-term memory, as the year that Americans woke up from a six-year collective nightmare to begin to take back their nation. The amount of innovation, communication, organization and mobilization that went on this year is utterly astounding. Something in the receding waters of Katrina a year ago left behind an indelible residue, some crystallite of critical mass energy that self-activated in 2006, finally compelling us to get on our particulars.

2006 was an explosion of new activism and awareness, both culturally and counterculturally. The Republicans, in their hubris and disconnect, demonized an entire immigrant nation for political gain, and then sat back in horror as the great Latin tiger awoke. Coordinated immigrant marches in the major American cities brought millions into the streets to demand the same rights and privileges that at one time the ancestors of these very same Republicans fought for themselves. Here in Chicago, on May Day, a crowd of over 400,000 took over the city for a day, refrains of Si Se Puedes! (“Yes We Can!”) echoing across Grant Park through the skyscraper canyons and up into the public consciousness. And in many ways, it couldn’t have come at a better time. Americans needed to be reminded of the pride, dedication, and (dare I say in an era of global community), the love of country we once felt. Here were these people, who were not yet American, but were at the same time possessed of more of the American spirit than those of us born into, raised with, and ultimately disillusioned by our political system.

But, for all our faults, we are also a people who know how to say enough is enough. Well, selectively for sure, but in this case it really counted. On November 7th we went to the polls, and we cleaned house…for the time being…and then we danced for days.

2006 was the year green went mainstream, with eco-consciousness suddenly rendered hip and attractive and (dare I say) sexy. And it all began when Vanity Fair published the “Green” issue in May, hiring icon maker Annie Leibovitz to bestow upon the green movement pop-culture immortality. There was “An Inconvenient Truth,” and two PBS series featuring Chicago, “Design e2: The Economics of Being Environmentally Conscious” and “Eden’s Lost and Found: How Ordinary Citizens are Restoring Our Great American Cities.” Production also wrapped on the much-anticipated Leonardo DiCaprio film, “11th Hour,” about the human impact on our planet.

Here in Chicago, the green juggernaut continued chugging forward, helmed by the incredibly progressive Department of the Environment. Local organic food markets proliferated, the Chicago Sustainable Business Alliance was launched this fall (of which Conscious Choice is a proud charter member). In a monumental step forward, all new public buildings in Chicago must be LEED (green) certified. Oh yeah…Chicago is also hosting the world’s largest Green Festival next April on Earth Day weekend.

And of course, Conscious Choice underwent a fairly radical transformation itself this year to keep apace with the cutting edge of the cultural phenomenon they now call LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability), a $200 billion a year market. When Jim and Ross founded Conscious Choice in 1988, there was no such thing as a “LOHAS market.” There was just a desire to create an alternative cultural presence in Chicago. Eighteen years later, we find ourselves in the unique position of leading the pack, heralding a new conscious generation of Chicagoans. As a point of reference, consider that out of 1000 magazines, only 30 will make it ten years or more. We’ve made it nineteen.

So here’s to the next 20!

— Charles Shaw

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